On Thursday 18 July, the two-millionth tractor rolled off the production line at New Holland’s Basildon plant in Essex, England. Having first opened its doors in 1964, the significant milestone coincides with the plant’s 60th anniversary.

The milestone two-millionth tractor is a 225hp T7.225, one of the plant’s most popular tractor models.

The tractor features a unique one-of-a-kind celebration livery comprising a candy blue paint job and black wheel rims finished with a candy blue outer edge strip. The bonnet bears a “2,000,000 Basildon Tractors” logo, alongside a silhouette, which nods to the old Pre-Force series of the 1960s and current T6 and T7 tractors.

The two-millionth tractor will make special appearances during forthcoming events in the UK and will then be displayed in the customer centre at Basildon.

Six decades

The 414,528m2 Basildon plant was the result of a four-year development, having started out as a 40ha greenfield site. It officially opened in May 1964, coinciding with the launch of the 37-65hp Ford 6X tractor series made there.

Models included the 2000 Dexta, 3000 Super Dexta, 4000 Major and 5000 Super Major, later to be known generally as the Pre-Force models following the launch of the Ford Force 2/3/4/5000 tractors in 1968.

Since then, the plant has been responsible for the assembly and world’s supply of the following significant Ford models – the 600 Series, 10 Series and 40 Series – followed by the New Holland TS, TM, T6000, T7000 and now the current T6 and T7 ranges spanning 125hp to 300hp.

In 1984, the 500,000th tractor was made, followed by the one millionth tractor in 1989. In 1995, the factory produced its 1,500,000th tractor.

The Basildon site also manufactures a certain number of Case IH models.

In 2012, a new visitor centre was opened at the facility and the same year the plant was awarded bronze world class manufacturing status. While the original 2.2km assembly line remains, CNH has continually invested in a number of automation and process upgrades to increase capacity.

In 2021, production of the T6.180 methane power tractor began in Basildon, following significant investments to become New Holland’s alternative fuels centre of excellence.

Today, a completed tractor rolls off the line every five minutes, with a capacity to turn out over 90 tractors daily (18,000 annually) in over 10,000 different specifications.

Export markets account for 85% of production.

With engines no longer built on site, the facility – like most modern tractor production sites – is more of an assembly hub as opposed to a manufacturing facility, with the majority of components shipped in a ‘just-in-time’ fashion.

Maintaining a tradition that began with the Silver Jubilee 7810 of 1989 and continued with the Golden Jubilee T6.180 and T7.270 tractors of 2014, New Holland unveiled a celebration edition T7.300 tractor in April to celebrate 60 years of tractors at Basildon.